
Class f. ^^4 i 

Book ,B7t 






y 






AN 

ORATION, 

PRONOUNCED JULY a,, 1804, 

AT THE REqUEST OF THE SELECTMEN OF THE TOWN OF 

BOSTON, 

IN COMMEMORATION 

OF THE 

Anniversary of American Independence, 



BY DR. Thomas ^d an forth. 



SECOND EDITION.' 



Statui res gf flas....quseque memorls digna vldebantur perscrlbere, c9 
,0iagis, quod mihi a fpc, et metu partibus reipublicas animus liber erat. 

Sallust, B. Cat, 

Vlvons, ou periiTons dignes de llberte, 

Et fongeons bien pltiiot, quelqu' amour qui noU3 flatte, 

A defendre du joug et nous et nos Etats, 

Qu' a contraiudre des coeurs, qui ne fe donnent pas. 

Racine, Tra^d. Mitlrld, 




** BOSTON, 
PRINTED BY RUSSELL AND CUTLER, 

i8o4« 



IZ 1^ ^ 



•I CP 



U'7f 




K^/VTh OraiiOTiy 8fo^ 



NATIOMAL honour, and national inde- 
pendence, conftitute the primary and effential char- 
atleriftics of a free, brave and generous people. If 
the former is affailed, the heft blood will be facri- 
ficed in its defence ; if the latter is threatened with 
deftruBion, it will roufe the fpirit of the nation to 
the nobleft enthufiafm. In proportion to the ac- 
tion of indignity, will be the re-aBion of honour, 
and the blow of arbitrary violence, will be return- 
ed with the preternatural ftrength of convulfivc 
power. 

ACTUATED by fuch fentiments, mankind, at 
various periods, have been incited to refill the op- 
preflions of tvranny. 

IN reviewing, however, the revolutions of focie- 
ty, the pi6iure they exhibit is more often defaced 
by the deformities of vice than embellifhed by the 
beauties of virtue \ the point of reft vanilhes at pof- 



5" 

fedioa ; ncv; forms have continually arifeii from the 
albes of old ; imbecile ignorance perpetually renews 
the fcene of error and calamity. 

THROUGH the long lapfe of ages, we fearch in 
vain for that people, among whom Liberty has long 
been cheriflied, with a conftant regard to the dig- 
nity and welfare of our fpecies. It has either de- 
generated into iicentioufncfs, or become tributary 
at the throne of ufurpation. Mankind have hated 
tyranny, without efteeming liberty ; they have re- 
pulfed reftraint, v/ithout feeking to know the bounds 
of right, and vainly have contented themfelves to 
repel the former, w^ithout labouring firmly to. 
eftablifh the latter. At the fhrine of fuperftitjous 
and political fanaticifm, more facrifices have been 
made, than grateful offerings of praife to heaven, 
for the fupreme advantages of rational liberty. 

IN thofe enlightened Republics of ancient time, 
where liberty feemed to have fixed her laftmg refi- 
dence, and where the dehre of being free exifted, 
when liberty feemed totally extintl, how vain 
were their efforts to preferve it }like the laft convul- 
fions of expiring nature, they but ferved to acceler- 
ate decay. 

THOUGH it coft the Macedonian more blood to 
conquer a few cities of Greece, than all Alia befide, 
yet Greece, torn by the diftraBing opinions of her 
citizens, vitiated, corrupted, divided, was no longer 
free. Carthage, degraded and overwhelmed, t 



VOTE OF THE TOWN. 



AT a Meeting of the Freeholders and other Inhabitants of the Town of 
Bojion, duly qualified, and legally warned in public Town-Meeting, affembled 
at Faneuil-Hall, the 4th day of July, A. D. 1804. 

On motion, Voted, That the Seleftmen be, and hereby are appointed a 
Committee to wait on Dr. THOMAS DANFORTH, in the name of the 
Town, and thank him for the elegant and fpirited Oration, this day deliv- 
ered by him, at the requeft of the town, upon the Anniverfary of the Indepea= 
dence of the United States of America ; and to requeft of him a copy for the 
.prefs, 

AtUji, WILLIAM COOPER, Town-Clerk. 



BOSTON, JULY 4, 1804, 

GENTLEMEN, 

THE Oration delivered at your requeft, is mod; humbly fubmitted 
feo your difpofal. 

With great refpefl, 

Your moft obedient fervant, 

THOMAS DANFORTH. 
The Sdcdmtn of Bcpa, 



tKe clofe of licr Punic wars, de^cnerafe, exfiibited 
but the dying fpirit of a heroifm, which coll to 
Rome, in her turn, dear bought vi6tories ; vi6^ori€S 
which deftroyed her hberties, as they extended het 
domains : the manners which had produced a Ca- 
inillus and a Regulus no longer exifled ; Cato's tears 
could not avail ; Auguftus arofe, and though the 
fhadow of liberty was preferved^ the fubilance was 
deftroyed. 

THE caufes which have produced the deftruc- 
tion of defpotifm, and the emancipation of {oc'iety, 
in modern time, have not been accompanied with 
more favourable refults. 

BUT for the enthufiafm of religious opinion^ 
Great-Britain perhaps would not have accomplilh- 
ed the reformation of her government. By her 
prudence, her condud, and her courage, an Eliza- 
beth had infpired, in the minds of her fubjefts, the 
moft dangerous fecurity ; of which the Stuarts had 
profited, but for the more powerful ftimulus of 
puritanic zeal.* 

IN fome Countries, however, liberty has kept 
pace with fanaticifm ; has periflied with it. Never 
would the United Provinces have attempted to 
break the chains, impofed by a Phillip, but for the 
terrors of an inquifition. The martyrs of their 
freedom, were impelled by ail the horrors of an 
Auto de Fee. To ereft thofe altars, at which alone 
ihe would worfliip, Holland was , neceffitated to 

* See Note fa J 



8 

form tiie fyllem of a Republic, doomed, at its birthj 
to fall a facrifice to avarice, difl'ention, and the meri* 
tricious arts of a moil powerful and fanatic neigh- 
bour, 

THE events which have pafled in review before 
trs, are mofl imprefTive. We have lived to behold 
the changes of empire, more rapid and more awful, 
than when in torrid zone, the thickening clouds a- 
rife, to burft in dreams of ceafelefs lightning, the 
Vengeance of the fkies. In their ftruggles for rights 
tv^e h^ve feen an ancient kingdom reduced to a mere 
vreck oF horror, wafting its vital energies, to fill up 
the meafure of moil condemnmg power. We have 
beheld the throne of the Capets tumbled to its bafe, 
and from the blood-ftained ruins, we have feen a 
power ariie, in form more hideous than Medufa*s 
head. Even now, by daring ufurpation, is her fcep-' 
t e iW'iyed, and gal'.ant France exhaufted, proftrate 
flceps m the quier-;de of defpotifm. Could Tacitus 
2 rife in thefe la.t'er times, how would the atrocious 
ba.barities con rritted in the beloved Lutetia of a 
Julian, enkmdl tne hre of his ftyle ; in what bor- 
lors, would the i- crimes have been delineated, by 
bis indignant ai i immortal hand ; the banifhment 
of an Anftides the murder of a Phocion, furnifh 
DOt more in ft rt live leftbns to poiteiity, than the in-» 
human butcher of an unfoitunate monarch, or ths 
more wanton fav ihce of the eminent Lavoifier.* 

IT is a fearf ^ge. V^e fetrp born to behold 
goodncfs pv< ftrj. -5 virtue dehkd^ taknti corrLpt- 

* See Note (bj 



ed, faith deflroyed. Behold that country, where 
Trom the chaos of feudal barbarifm, hrft arofe the 
i'pirit of a freedom, which gave peace to virtue and 
lignity to manners ; where liberty grew majeftic, 
mourifhed on mountain foil, now funken and de- 
prefFed, fafl bound in chains, profFerred friendfhip 
4ind freedom proclaimed have wrought ; Rome has 
,:ome again; Switzerland,like famed Achaia's confe- 
iieracy, mud fall a prey to that protedion, which 
leftroyed the iafl hopes of ancient liberty. 

SUCH have been the melancholy refults, when 
the paffions of the multitude form the fource of 
power, when democracy, under the mafk of liberty, 
ftalks among mankind, dealing out licence to her in- 
furiated progeny, to gorge in human |nifery their 
mad defires. 

AMID this wafte, degenerate time, the phllanthro- 
pifl mournful looks around him, for fome favoured 
clime, to reft in peace his wearied mind ; turning 
his regards towards this weftern world, in the glow of 
fenfibilitv he demands, muft men be the everlaftinar 
dupes of fyilems begotten by diftempered imagina- 
jion ? Does a blind fatality hold the deftiny of em» 
pire ? Is liberty a celeflial chimera which philofo- 
')hy implores in vain ? 

AMERICANS ! dcfccuded from a long line of ven- 
erable anceftry, educated in theearliell habits of juft 
authority, diftinguiilied for charaQer, manners and 
principles, it was referved for you to accomplifli the 



10 

nobleft work of time, or blaft, hy fimilar follies, by 
fimilar calamities, the faireft hopes of creation. 

WHILE other nations muft trace their origin from 
plunder, conqueR or blood, it is your peculiar pri- 
vilege to behold in the firft fettlers of your coun- 
try, a race of men, as refplendant for the luflre of 
their virtues, as memorable for the glory of their a- 
chievements. 

AT that period, when the human mind began to 
awaken, from the lethargy of ignorance, excited by 
the inveftigations, of a Luther, a Calvin, and a Gro- 
tius, your anceftors voluntarily refigned thepleafuref 
of domeftic life, hazarding their lives and fortunes to 
enjoy, unmolefted, fequeftered, the rights of con- 
fcience. Can we in imagination carry back our 
view, to the period of their firfl landing on thefe 
then inhofpitable ftiores, without emulating that ar- 
dor and that zeal in the human charafter, which in 
the lapfe of fcarce two centuries, has converted the 
frightful wild of the foreft into fields andvallies, in- 
to towns and cities, into dates and empire. 

"so the dread Seer, in Patmos wifle who trod, 

Led by the vifions of the guiding God, 

Saw heaven's dim vault its circling folds unbend, 

And gates and fpires, and flreets and domes defcend, 

Far down the {kies ; with funs and rainbows crowned, 

The new formed city, lights the world around." 

THEIR immediate defcendants were not lefs re- 
nowned for their hardihood of courage, or their vi- 
gor of in*^-^^'-/^. ; and while o^^ - countries in the" 



11 

flruggles againft oppreffion have been loaded with 
crimes, which have induced good men to prefer the 
word of conditions to the hazard of change, yours 
was the mofl elevated effort of magnanimity and pa- 
triotifm. Slow in its rife, it exhibited the calmnefs 
of deliberation ; refolute in its progrefs, it never 
departed from the regularity of fyftem ; irrefiftable 
to its purpofe, it unfolded the luxuriant fources of 
talents, genius, heroifm. 

BUT for the vain pride of miniftry, and its perfi- 
dious dependants, brothers had not mingled their 
blood, in warfare with each other ; and the world 
might have beheld the rare and aftonifhing fpe6tacle 
of an aged parent confecrating, at the altar of free- 
dom, the rightful fovereignty of his defcendants* 
*' With filial puty^ with more than Roman charity, 
you had opened the youthful hofom^ of your efcuherance, 
to an exhaified monarch ;" but the pride of power fi- 
lenced the voice of nature, the fatal blow was given, 
and we were fevered forever. 

LOXG fince have we fheathed the fword, to re- 
fume the implements of peaceful life; anxious only 
to preferve the invaluable privileges, your anceftors 
had earned, by all the hardfhips of fuffering human- 
ity, the wife, the honell and the good, now fought 
the calm and fettled (late of an efficient government, 
by which alone the wants of mankind, and the peace 
of fociety,can be fatisfiedand preferved. At length to 
our enraptured view, the foundations of the temple 
of freedom are laid ; its majeflic pillars are feen to 



12 

rife ; its dome unfolds, and liberty, which, as yet, 
had hovered over a country, where fhe had been in; 
vited to dwell, now borne on the wings of our eagle| 
defcends triumphant, to this her bed, her laft abodi 

IS then the pride of the nation, fuperior i| 
your bofoms, to every other intereft and ambition r 
Is an enlarged, an enlightened afFeQion towards th' 
conflitution, a fixed principle in the breafls of thoft 
to whom we have leafed our original power. Sucl' 
are the feelings which this occafion fliould infpire 
If we have liberty without a juft authority, or gov 
crnment without liberty, we have contended in vain 
we are worfe than the (laves of foreign power, w 
are flaves to ourfelves. 

THE knowledge of the principle on which perfe 
civil liberty depends, is doubtlefs as great a defidei| 
atum in political fcience, as a knowledge of tl) 
caufe of life is in natural philofophy. Empire 
fucceed, and fyilems pafs away, nations perifh, ar/ 
governments are extinguifhed, but the laws of trui 
are eternal ; and happy would it be for mankino 
if in politics, as in phyiics, experiment was th 
ftandard, by which to teft the good or evil tendenc) 
of laws, to the total exclufion of hypothefis ano 
opinion. 

IN all governments, there muft be a preponderat 
ing influence, a fovereign power, doubtlefs deriv- 
ing its origin from the people, but guaranteed b^ 
fundamental laws, in order that the liberty of all 



13 

may not be the fport of the licentioufnefs of any. 
There never has, nor there never will exift a tru' 
democracy. If, fays the elegant author of the Socia 
Compa6t, there were a people of Gods, they migJ 
be governed democratically, ajlate fo perfeB will neve 
belong to man. In our own government, fo happil; 
blended and equipoifed are the powers of State 
that though fovereignty exifts, it may be faid neve 
to remain fixed, but like the vibrations of the pen 
dulum, gives to every part and pcytion, its uniforr 
fpring and a6lion. The federal compa6l is nc 
merely the (ketch of liberty, it is the work complete 
it is the only government under heaven, yet known 
where every man may be faid to exercife his right 
in the aggregate fyilem of power. Founded h 
reafon and the analogy of nature, like the fair forn 
of the human body^ it exhibits the beauty, ftrengtl 
and proportions of a well ordered fyftem. The ex 
ecutive is its brain, the judiciary its lungs, and th 
legiflative its whole heart, circulating the very pabu; 
lum of its exiftence, and iffuing the powers, whic^ 
warm and invigorate its remoteft extremities. A 
eflential to the exiftence of our bodies, as are th- 
brain, lungs, or heart, equally as effential, are th^ 
diftin6l and independent branches of our govern 
ment, to its life and prefervation. Drawn out o 
the experience of ages, it contains the principles o 
a Republic, fublimely re61:ified. It is the palladiun 
of your future peace, a bond of union and obliga 
tion, which when violated, will convulfe to its cen 
tre the delicate frame of your liberty. 



14 

siJCH is the fyftem under which you have fo 
greatly fiourifhed ; and will you — can you, from 
indifference, ignorance, or prefumption, fuffer the 
fundamental principles of fo admirable a ftru61ure5 
to be facrificed, to fatiate the crude whimfies of tur- 
bulent innovation ? Would you wantonly rifk the 
experiments of alchymico politicians, when already 
its excellence has been unfolded in your profperity ? 
Are not ancient forms and inftitutions now more 
perfedly adjufted, and what further fecurities do 
you require ? From what fources have we caufe for 
jealoufy ? From whence mull we look for the ori- 
gin of oar evil ? What dangers mufl; we dread ? 
Is it from its monarchical tendency, you apprehend 
mifchief to the State ; a throne— a diadem. Who 
fnall wear it ? If monarchy is ever to be eftablifli- 
cd v/ithin the limits of our UnioUj the dead bodies 
of your citizens will conftitute its bafis, while 
their blood will form the cement, which mufl 
amalgamate the difcordant materials. Isitanarif- 
tocracy you fear ? Who, on the deftrudion 
of legiilative right, would dare ere6t a privileged 
order ? Bafe, falfe idea ; thank God, we have, in- 
deed, a nobility ; a nobility whofe orders are 
founded on merit, on virtue, on folid worth, ftars of 
the mind, not of the body, they will fhine in hifto- 
ry's lateft page, and point the path to honor and to 
fame. A throne, or its titles, have no terrors for 
you;thefe are but vain and empty fhadows, mere 
bugbears of imagination, defignedly held up by the 
envious and malicious, to dillrad and deceive the 



( 



15 

ignorant and the mlfinformed. If we have any foe, 
if the councils of the nation mufl be dilfolved, and 
the fplendid dome, which has thus far iheltered us; 
muft be rent in ruin, the daring enemy will aflail 
you from within ; he will be found at the heart of 
the city — that enemy is FaQion, the canker-worm of 
empires, in free governments, engendered by a too 
luxuriant growth of the tender plant of freedom. 

I woui-D, my Countrymen, not a cloud had a- 
rifen, to obfcure the profpect, which has animat- 
ed our hopes ; but alas, dangers have arifen, al- 
ready exift, dangers infeparable from the nature 
of all free governments ; dangers, which form the 
very effence of their freedom. The crafty, the 
fubtle, the reftlefs, and the difappointed, thefe 
are the boafled heralds of liberty, demagogues, 
who, like their brethren of antiquity, will not fail 
to appear popular, like old Diogenes, preaching up 
contempt of powers and dignities, they moft eager- 
ly defire, and provoking, by their charlatanry, 
that thirft and jealoufy of the pailions, which tear 
afunder the very cords of Society. Such are the 
men who have ever ufed the people as a mere 
ladder to mount the throne of power, who flattei 
to deceive, and feaft your vanity, while they rob 
your underftandings. In fuch hands, to fuch ; 
power, with beings of fuch a caft, will you intruil 
your deareft inter efts ? Shall foreign bodies norj 
rifli from your luxuriant bofom, while native ci- 
tizens are alienized from your follering care ? R< 



Idence and property conftitute the diflinguifliing 
iharader of the citizen ; the real inhabitants, the 
|eal proprietors of the foil, they only are the true 
itizens, they only are the American People. 

IT is a critical moment, when parties, which 
are formed from various views, will not permit 
the people to concur in the general good. Such 
moments, if repeated, mull end in defpotifm. — 
Have we witnefled them ; a£k your own confcien- 
ces, review the eventful periods of your hiftory, 
recollect the annals of 'S6 ; fcarcc had the God- 
defs of Liberty lighted on our fhores, when infur- 
redion, that fiend of all focial order, threatened 
her with inftant extindion ; your guardian ge- 
nius had not yet funk to eternal reft ; again ihe 
awakened to truth ; again fbe animated to victo- 
ry. The monfter, though confronted, was not 
deftroyed ; in aiTumed and novel fhape fhe fteals 
retreat, to break anew upon our peace ; recollecl 
the period, when with what anxiety you ftood 
trembling, leaft on the altar of opinion, fhould be 
facrificed the profperity of our country ; happily 
virtue triumphed, wifdom prevailed, the confti- 
tution was adopted. In the congratulations of 
the public joy, the rage of party feemed to have 
funk away, like tired nature fhe ftole to reft, to 
cdllecl anew her exhaufted ftrength. Awakened 
by difappointment, behold Faction arms anew in 
all her power. The Savior of his country, could 
fcarce efcape the venom of its rage, fliielded by 



17 

fafe beyond the iKies, calumny darts In vain tier 
arrows, at the fepulchre which entombs him. — ' 
Keep ! ah keep ! the hallowed relics , till fome bet- 
ter day ihall rellore them, to the monuments of 
thy fathers. Not fo, his noble friend, the venera- 
ble Adams ; he has furvived to experience, how 
uncertain is popular fame, how profitable is re- 
venge, how expenfive is gratitude ; iii the calm df 
retirement, behold the good man tefting fecure, 
on the llaiF of his bright honor* 

INSATIATE, this malice of party knows no 
bound ; the fame caufes, luft of pride, avarice, 
mad ambition, hatred andlove of perpetual change^ 
liave commenced their condemning labors among 
lis. Philofophy indeed, has affumed a new face, 
but has fhe produced any thing new : Where 
is that harmony, that perfed tranquility, phan- 
tom of promifed happinefs, vanilhed in air with 
the breath which announced it j " it is mere anti^ 
quated folly, varnifhed up anew ;" the fanaticifm 
of a falfe wifdom, a maik of virtue, thefc are 
the delufive attra(5i:ions of the times. 

IN vain may we difguife ; the florm is gather- 
ing, the diftant thunder has already reached us, 
honor and worth are depofed, paft fervices forgot- 
ten ; the very poifon rages at the vitals of the con- 
flitution ; if this fpirit is never to be quenched ^ 
if to gratify the views of the dominant party ,conti-» 
nual changes are to be made, in the fundamental 
C 



18 

principles of your compad, we fliall foon lofe figlirt 
of its fair features ; the people will no longer re- 
cognize the original inflrumcnt of their union. 

FACTION, re-united to itfelf, may exhibit a pow- 
er, againfl which, the divided forces of the States, 
might fhudder to regard ; but let thofe who now 
fway unlimited, and who, it is faid, on the ruins 
of the Conftitution, would erecl ancient dominion, 
paufe, and remember, that here in the North, be- 
gan the fpirit of a freedom, whofe fire electric, 
refufcitated to new exiftence, our once palfied 
country ; and fhould thefe " Phili/iines^^ of the 
South, which kind Heaven avert, dare venture to 
fheer us, of the Palladium of our ftrength, is there 
among you that fon of Priam, who like Helenus, 
would betray his country ? No, not one, in folid 
phalanx joined, as great Achilles to Agamemnon, 
I think you would tell the proud foe, through 
our bodies muft you pafs, ere you violate the 
fanduaf y of our freedom. 

MASSACHiTSEtTS, God be praifed, ftill retaifis 
her attachment to the inftitutions of her progeni- 
tors, her love of pofterity. Strong in her habits 
of induftry ; llrong in the hardy valor of her fons, 
ftrong in the virtues of her illuftrious chief, may 
fhe continue to watch with eager, cautious, refo- 
lute eye, the wary movements of dlforganizing 
time. Yes, truly, the hope indeed is cherifhed, 
that you will be found the champions of truth. 
The late magnanimous refolution of your Legiila- 

** See Note (cj 



19 

ture has palTed, gone forth, not to ^\Teft from 
conflituted authority its juft power, but to main- 
tain, if poffible, that balance, which conflitutes 
the very form andelTence of your republic — equal 
reprefentation of freemen only, founded on the 
\mmutable principle of juft liberty, the right of 
luffrage.* 

THE great contending powers, whofe wars have 
agitated the v/orld, ftill hold in hateful enmity, 
yimbition is not fatisfied, pride has not reached her 
boundaries, vengeance is not done, the fcaffold now 
fteams with the blood of injured, innocent royalty, 
Gan wx furvey thefe fcenes, and as w^e drop the tear 
of fympathy for the continued miferies of man, and 
not feel the fecret glow of gratitude burft from our 
bofoms, in praife to heaven, that thefe are the places 
of our fathers. 

v/£ poffefs a country we delight in ; here agrjr 
culture unfolds the richeft abundance of the earth, 
commerce rolls her exhaufllefs treafures from either 
portion of the globe, arts and fcience are univerfal- 
ly diffufed, the fources of education are privileged 
to none, we have the religion of nature and of na- 
ture's God, open to the worfhip of all. Let us 
then, in the fyflem of our .political affairs, regard 
man as he is, not merely an imaginary creature, 
who wants no rules to bind him ; but as a being 
felfifh, though focial, devoured by a cruel egotifm, 
rubje61; to vices, to weakneffes, and infirmities, 
which have ever defied the powers of human inteU 

* See Note fdj 



20 

lecl. Let us adapt the code of our laws, to the pop- 
lilation, induflryj extent and moral habits of the 
people. 

IN the archives of your ftate, \vritten on tablets 
of brafsjlet the folemn teftament of your Washing- 
ton be depofited ; there, as at Delphos, let your 
flatefmen come, and ponder well the truths his beftj 
great mind conceived. In the career of fuch wif- 
dom, guided by fuch counfel, we may indeed anti- 
cipate, that in our future hiilory, will be unfolded 
the fplendor of ernpire, philofophy fhall realife her 
fondell expe6lation, prophecy fhall be utterly ac- 
complifhed ; and the tree of liberty, planted hy 
the zeal of your anceftors, nourished and fupported 
by the continued care of their fuccefTors, fhall 
flourifh in perennial life, and millions yet unbornj 
as they refrefh beneath its grateful (hade, fhall hail^ 
in raptures of ceafelefs exultatiori, this feflival oF 
your glory. 




21 



NOTES. 



NOTE (a) Page 7. 
" If it be true, fays a late political writer, that in revolu- 
tions, enthufiafts are iieceiTary to advance beyond the mark, at 
which wife men aim, the Englifh owe much to the Puritans, 
who, equally as oppofed to Epifcopacy as to Royalty, aimed 
at the deftru<5lion of bot,h." The Reftoration to theMonarchi- 
cal fyftem, under a more juft balance of power, the definitive 
fettlement of the privileges of Magna Charta, that noble mo- 
deration, Mr. Hume obferves, asfb efTential to the eftablifhment 
of freedom in government, which accompanied this change, 
has proved, beyond all controverfy, the excellence and fitnefs 
cf the Conftitution, undbr which the fubjeds of Great-Britaiii 
have fo long flourifhed, ' " ^ ■ ' ' 



NpTE (bj Page 8. 
Science v;lU long mourn the untimely fate of this difclpl? 
of a Bacon ; born to an ample fortune, endowed with a fuperior 
intelled, he expended the former, while he exerted the latter^ 
m the dev elopement of thoffe principles, which operate the vari* 
ous beauties of the inineral, vegetable, "and animal kingdoms* 
S6me mod important experi?nehts on the phenomena of the lat- 
ter, he wiihed the liberty of a few days exigence to prefent 
to the world ;but France had then no need of Philofophers 5 
the temple of truth was razed to its bafe, and his light was exi 
tinguiihed forever. He was of the long lift of thofe, who 
fell under the axe of the Guillotine, during the reign of terror, 
(as the honeft people of trance rightly denominated it) ia 1 793. 



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" A people who would preferve their liberties muft be per- 
petually guarding againft the ufurpations of their government. 



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jnore dpeclally if they are extended over a vafl: territory. The 
force Q>i government conflantly prefents an irrefiftable mafs, 
while that of the citizens is every where divided. Re-united to 
a fadioGj it is eafy for it to deflroy llherty, it may efFe<ft it even 
■by the aid of calumny alone. The mod elTential article there- 
fore in the Conflitution of a great people, is that which defends 
fovereignty againft the attempts of the government." Thefe 
obfervations, from the pen of a late writer, on the French Re- 
solution, cannot be too' ferioufly confideredin thiscountry. 



NOTE /^; Page 19 
William Ely^ Efqulre's, late Refolution, which has receive 
cd the fandlion of the various branches of our State govern- 
ment ; a rcfolution, founded on the pureft republican princi- 
ples, and though intended to efFecl, if poilible, an alteration in 
a given point, of the original compail, is neverchelefs a change 
arifing out of the urgency and neceffity of the times, and favor- 
able to liberty and the fafety of the union ; a change, which, 
if introduced, would ferve to outweigh that unjull prepondei- 
ancy already exifting, and which will be fo greatly increafed 
by the Louifiana acceffion, a territory which muft be principal- 
ly populated by llaves. \i population is to be the fource of re- 
prefentation indifcriminately(to ufe a certain legiflator's term) 
it is high lime the cattle of New-England fhould be entitled to 
the right of fufff age ; but I am inclined to think, with Arifto- 
tle, there is aneilential diftlnclion between populus and popu- 
laris multitudo. Refidcnce on a given territory which belongs 
to a Body oi?nen, is neceflary to conftitute a nation itfelf, and 
confequently refidence, attachment and a certain right in the 
territory by freehold or convention is effentlal to condltute the 
r.iuzen, and the people, in whom only fovereignty Ihonidrefide. 







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